1. Field
Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to apparatuses and methods for liquid or fluid infusion. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to apparatuses configured to extract soluble portions of slurries through infusion, and methods related thereto.
2. Background
Infusion of leaves, herbs, and other slurries (e.g., solid, semi-solid, and/or liquid substances) for medicinal purposes has been part of human cultures for centuries. The process of infusion, e.g., adding a slurry to a liquid (i.e., a solvent), or a solvent to a slurry, under certain temperature and/or pressure conditions may extract one or more solutes (i.e., soluble portions of the slurry), has also entered other fields of endeavor.
Solutes of many slurries have been extracted for flavor as well as other properties. Leaves from certain laurel trees, such as the California Laurel or Indian Laurel (sometimes known as “bay leaves”), may be steeped in sauces or stews to add fragrance and/or a subtle flavor similar to cinnamon. Infusion of other laurel leaves, such as the Mountain Laurel, could produce solutes that are poisonous to humans. Although non-toxic bay leaves are often left in the sauce or finished dish, mastication of even non-toxic bay leaves may produce a bitter taste, and the texture of the bay leaf may cause irritations to the digestion tract. Such taste, texture, toxicity, and/or other characteristics of the slurry and/or solutes may be undesirable in the solution.
To avoid some unwanted by-products in the desired solution, some slurries may be substantially separated or removed from and/or by the infusion process after a desired quantity of and/or desired solute (extracted material) has been infused with the solvent (fluid). Examples of slurry separation after infusion are the removal of the slurries of coffee grounds or tea leaves from solution after the desired solute infusion has occurred. This separation may vary based on the desired end product, e.g., weak or strong tea, bitter or smooth coffee, etc. The slurries and/or other undesired material may be removed from the infusion by one or more devices and/or methods, e.g., filtration, containment of the solid, decanting, etc.
In some apparatuses, such as coffee makers or brewers, single and/or multi-serving packages of slurry material, also referred to as a beverage medium, (e.g., ground coffee), may be provided in a container or cartridge for easy infusion to form a consumable beverage solution. In coffee brewers of this type, water (e.g., the solvent) may be heated by the apparatus to a desired temperature and introduced into the cartridge. The solvent, and perhaps other fluids, infuse with the slurry (e.g., coffee grounds) in the cartridge, and the solute and solvent mixture (e.g., the beverage formed) is removed at a desired time from the infusion for consumption. The slurry (coffee grounds, tea leaves, etc.) may remain in the container or cartridge to reduce introduction of unwanted flavors, textures, additional solute extraction, or other deleterious properties of the slurry into the solution (solvent-solute mixture).
These apparatuses may use a stationary inlet port that pierces the cartridge and injects a relatively constant stream of solvent (e.g., water) toward the slurry (e.g., coffee grounds) into the cartridge. This solvent stream may channel or tunnel through the slurry and not fully extract solute from some portions of the slurry, while over-extracting solute from other portions of the slurry, resulting in a solvent-solute solution comprising undesirable solute properties, e.g., bitter taste, undesirable after-taste, etc. To remedy the presence of undesirable solutes and/or other slurry properties in solution, other solutes may be added to mask the undesirable solutes and/or other properties that have been infused into the solution. Examples of added solutes are sugar, cream, etc., which may be used to mask the bitter and/or other undesirable solutes in the solvent-solute solution produced by apparatuses using stationary solvent inlet ports.